


waiting on love to call, hidden in the fall

by idontwrite



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: High School AU, M/M, Prom, Strangers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 05:19:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17822648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idontwrite/pseuds/idontwrite
Summary: Minhyun doesn’t like his school’s prom night, but a junior who performs some love songs might just change his mind.





	waiting on love to call, hidden in the fall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [charmandu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmandu/gifts).



 

 _I hear it call in the center of it all_ _  
_ _you're the love of my life, the love of my life_

thunder clatter, wild cub

 

Minhyun frowns as he tugs on his bowtie again. It fit snugly just enough, he just… really didn’t like it. His brother swats his hand and tuts before he rolls down to a stop in front of the school gymnasium.

“Stop fussing,” Baekho chastises. “It looks _fine.”_

The young man glares at him. “I don’t know why I have to attend this year. I didn’t last year.”

“Exactly,” Baekho points out. “You’re graduating. You should at least experience prom once!”

Minhyun just blinks at him. He looks down on what he is wearing—his mother had insisted that he wear the suit she had tailored for him last year, and thank heavens it still fit—and brushes away an imaginary lint. He’s wearing a crisp white shirt under an admittedly nice, perfectly-made black cashmere suit with a matching black silk bow tie. Minhyun fixates on the knot again.

“I told you, it’s fine,” his brother repeats, then reaches over to open the car door. He ducks his head to meet Minhyun’s gaze. “Now go. Try and have fun, alright? I’ll pick you up around midnight, but text me if you need more time, you know what I mean?”

He laughs, but Minhyun blinks fox eyes at him before shaking his head and walking out of the door. “Have fun!” Baekho yells after him again before driving away. The young man glances to the entryway of the gymnasium. It looks fantastic, if he was being honest; not shabby-looking at all. Their class could afford an actual function hall, but Daniel and the rest of the student body decided to dress  up the gymnasium instead, and Minhyun is glad they did make the right choice this time. He strolls to the registration desk and signs his attendance.

“So nice of you to join us, Minhyun,” the girl on the desk greets with a smile. Min-seo. She is in his year. “You look really nice.”

Minhyun looks down at his suit again and hopes his smile doesn’t feel too forced. “Thank you,” he says with a polite nod. “You look lovely as well. I’ll see you inside.”

He excuses himself and heads into the gymnasium. The interior is even more beautiful here than it looked outside. There are several tables surrounded by chairs located around the area, made fancy with black covers and golden accents. The chairs are half-occupied. The rest of the students are on the makeshift dance floor. Already. Minhyun doesn’t really know what time it is. There are large gold drapes that form a lovely tent form, centered on the middle of the gymnasium ceiling and arching to the perimeter of the area. Fairy lights dot the otherwise dim room, and save for the lights blinking along to the thumping beat of the pop music playing and the odd whooping, Minhyun thinks it’s actually charming.

“Hey, you made it!”

Minhyun turns to the familiar voice and he isn’t prepared when Minki wraps an arm around his neck in  a half-hearted hug. Minhyun laughs.

“Baekho made me,” he explains, but Minki chuckles.

“Eh, you’re here,” Minki grins. He’s wearing a blue and black suit, and with his long hair, he just really needs a sword and he’d be off looking like a modern knight. “Clearly only for the good part. Dancing’s already begun.”

Minhyun shrugs as he follows his friend to a table. Already seated are Jisung, Jong-hyun and Aron, dressed in their own fancy suits, laughing and watching over the direction of the dance floor.

“Oh, are they still going?” Minki says with a laugh as he looks as well. Minhyun eyes the dance floor to see what they are watching. There’s a crowd around a pair of two young men—at least he knows where the whooping is from now—who seemed to be engaged in a dance off. Minhyun squints his eyes and realizes it’s none other than Daniel, student body president, and a junior that Minhyun recognizes.

“Is that Park  Woojin?” He asks, curious and amused at the same time.

“Hey, you’re here!” Jisung greets, giving Minhyun a wave. Jong-hyun and Aron greet him too, before confirming that yes, it is indeed Park Woojin. Minhyun makes a small sound of acknowledgment. He had always thought Park Woojin was a quiet boy—at least, of what he sees of him in the school, but Minhyun is pleased to know he is perfectly capable of showing off a few moves of his own.

“He’s actually good,” Minki murmurs.

Minhyun watches. The crowd continues whooping and cheering on as the two have their dance-off. There seems to be no clear winner, really; the minutes wear on and soon enough they laugh and give each other handshakes and one-arm hugs. Minhyun takes the time to get some finger foods and punch from the refreshment table. He says hi to a few classmates who comment on how it was _nice_ to see him—clearly, his absence in the past year made it such a treat to see him this year. Minhyun ignores it.

The thumping of the bass of pop songs soften after a while. Curious, Minhyun looks over to the dance floor only to see that the stage is lit up a bit. He makes his way to their table with a glass of punch and some hors d'oeuvres just as a slightly disheveled, sweaty Daniel hops up the stage. He grins as he greets the crowd.

“Thank you all for coming,” he says, still a little out of breath. “I hope you’re all having fun with the dancing, but it’s time to slow things down.”

There are _oohs_ in the crowd as the curtains behind Daniel open dramatically. The soft sound of a guitar riff echoes in the gymnasium—a familiar song that Minhyun recognizes but can’t remember the title of. The dim lights finally fall on a live band right behind Daniel. Minhyun recognizes them too. Swing band, if he’s right.

“And here to serenade you all is the junior’s very own, Kim Jaehwan.” Daniel steps aside and gestures an arm to the center of the stage.

A young man steps out of the shadows—he wears a white shirt and a black suit and tie too, as he sets a mic stand on the middle of the stage. He is grinning but he looks a bit nervous. Minhyun thinks he remembers him—one of those slightly memorable faces, with his pointy ears and chubby cheeks. Minhyun actually thinks this Kim Jaehwan is cute, but he seems different now, in his suit. Like he’s more mature, sophisticated.

The guitar continues its opening riff. Jaehwan grins, and then—

 _“When your legs don’t work like they used to before,”_ he sings, and Minhyun’s world stills to a stop. His lips fall open just as a blanket of mesmerized silence falls on the crowd—an unexpected reaction, when Minhyun is fully sure everyone would be cheering and whooping right now had it been any other student singing up there. Everyone is captivated with Jaehwan’s angelic voice. Minhyun didn’t even know he sang.

Yet here Minhyun is, plate of hors d'oeuvres in one hand and glass of juice in the other, halfway his walk to his table, gaping at the young man crooning a love song to the junior and senior classes of his school.

 _“Baby I will be loving you ‘til we’re seventy,”_ Jaehwan continues. The dim light of the stage casts lovely shadows on the young man’s face. Minhyun finally finds it in him to return to his table to see that the rest of his classmates are also captivated. Those spared of the amazement stand, and if Minhyun paid attention, he’d see that a couple of students have already gone to invite their crushes—or closest friends—to a slow dance, right to the sweet, live music courtesy of the swing band and Kim Jaehwan.

Minhyun though… Minhyun is enraptured. He lowers his glass and plate on the table but keeps the full of his attention to the stage where Jaehwan sings. Minki stands after a while and heads to probably that cute junior he had always mentioned he liked. Minhyun’s proud of him and he’d wish him a good luck, but his focus diverts back to the young man singing on-stage.

Jaehwan meets his gaze. It doesn’t last for more than a fleeting second, but he looks at Minhyun once more. The senior doesn’t know if he’s seeing things, but it seems like Jaehwan gave him a small nod, one that he easily mirrored.

As far as prom nights and entertainment go, Minhyun had  to admit that _this_ isn’t half bad. One of the reasons he insisted not going is because he dislikes the idea of participating in such social events, especially when they involve the idea of lavish clothing and worse, romance, but this is just like a nice evening out on a restaurant with a live band. Granted, there were pairs of bodies off in the dance floor, swaying to the music and talking in hushed murmurs. It isn’t as bad as Minhyun expected.

The guitar and the drums fade away. Jaehwan holds the mic with both hands and taps his foot just as the piano transitions into another song. It’s  unfamiliar this time. Minhyun tilts his head, trying to figure out what it is, but his search for a title derails as Jaehwan sings once more. His voice is soft and airy, like he’s singing a secret told upon deaf ears.

 _Light reflects from your shadow_ _  
_ _It is more than I thought could exist_

The soft beat of the drums seem distant as Jaehwan continues to sing. There’s an odd feeling of sadness that settles in his chest at the song despite how sweet the lyrics of the song seem.

_Being as in love with you as I am_

Jaehwan meets Minhyun’s gaze, _again,_ and Minhyun wonders once more if he was indeed looking at him. As far as stage presence go, Jaehwan _is_ every inch a performer.

A girl approaches Minhyun after a while. He doesn’t know her name but she _does_ look familiar. Certainly a junior. The young man tears his eyes away from Jaehwan to smile at her.

“Minhyun-oppa,” she starts shyly, and she looks behind her for a moment. Minhyun sees a couple of her friends cheering her on. “M-May I have this dance, please?”

Ah. Right. Minhyun should have expected it, really. This is _prom night,_ after all, where boys and girls his age dance and drink and more or less make mistakes. Still, he wasn’t really in the mood to dance—he doesn’t _slow dance,_ if anything, and when he only does when he is forced to by his mother, for important occasions like weddings and grand birthday parties of distant cousins.

So it’s with a polite smile that Minhyun shakes his head. “I’m sorry, I ah, don’t dance,” he says, and he looks very apologetic about it that the girl, though disappointed, just smiles and waves her hand.

“Don’t worry about it, Minhyun-oppa,” she says with a  nervous giggle. Then she is returning to her group of friends, who look over at Minhyun curiously. He nods over at them in apology as well, not wanting to offend them, but surprisingly, they just smile at him.

He’ll take it.

The rest of his friends leave the table one by one so they could go up  to their respective partners—and dream partners. Aron shot him a look, like he was telling Minhyun to go up and dance too, but Minhyun only shrugs and takes one of the smoked salmon canapé to his mouth. He returns his focus to Jaehwan singing on the stage. He has started a new song. Minhyun knows this one. Madonna, a classic. He lasts until the second verse before he has to brush off another offer for a dance, this time by the most  popular girl in school who Minhyun is sure is dating the baseball team captain from the past year.

“Wow. Either you’re being a dick or you’re just waiting for a specific someone to ask you for a dance,” a cool voice says. Minhyun glances to beside him as Ong Seongwu sits on the chair to his left. He looks dapper as always, features sharp and smile charming as he looks to the side of the stage where Daniel is talking to another student council member. “I really hope it’s the latter.”

Minhyun shakes his head as he takes a sip of his drink. There’s a bitter aftertaste in the fruit punch and he just _knows_ someone had successfully spiked it. “I _don’t_ dance,” Minhyun grumbles, and he eyes Ong warily. “Shouldn’t _you_ be dancing? I thought these kinds of events were your thing.”

Ong shrugs. “Yes. But Niel is still busy. There are two more performances after Jaehwannie, so—”

“Jaehwannie,” Minhyun echoes with amusement. He glances at the young man singing on stage, crooning _and I’m crazy for you_ with his eyes closed. “Didn’t know you were close with a junior.”

Ong shrugs. “Niel and him are family friends, which means _we_ are friends.”

Minhyun nods slowly as he takes in the fact. Soon enough, Daniel is making his way back to the tables and upon noticing, Ong gets up. “Anyway, I’m going to get my dance on while you sulk over here on your own.”

Minhyun laughs as he stands, too, making his way back to the refreshment table to refill his glass. The music fades away to slow guitar and drum beats; it’s another song Minhyun doesn’t know but it seems catchy, and most of all, he’s a little bit curious about Jaehwan’s set. Did he select his songs on his own? Did Daniel give him a list? Either way, his song from earlier about dreaming with angels is something he wants to know the title of.

Refilled glass in hand, Minhyun turns around to go back to his seat. Fox eyes flit towards the stage and he meets Jaehwan’s gaze. There’s a pull in the way he looks at him, one that is as captivating as his voice, if not more. Minhyun distantly wonders how he had gone the past few years not feeling this pull when it feels so strong, and he realizes Jaehwan had been, for the longest time, a wallflower, only being noticed now as he takes centerstage.

Minhyun stays rooted where he is when he realizes Jaehwan is looking at him again, like he has searched the crowd for him.

 _“Hey primadonna, don’t you want to talk to me?”_ Jaehwan smiles knowingly at Minhyun, and never breaking his gaze continues singing, changing the pronouns he used in the earlier chorus:

 _I follow him like satellites, around and ‘round he goes_ _  
_ _He’s everywhere; he’s everything_

The song fades into soft guitar strumming just as the lights dim. The pairs dancing part for a moment to give Jaehwan a resounding applause just as Daniel returns onstage to thank Jaehwan. He emerges from the darkness once more and takes a bow, and before he walks out meets Minhyun’s eyes again across the crowd.

Then he leaves, and Lee Daehwi takes the stage.

The familiar opening notes of an Adele song echo through the gymnasium. The crowd returns to their partners to dance as Daehwi takes his turn to serenade everyone. Minhyun walks back to his table, but before he could take his seat, a familiar young man walks past him.

Jaehwan.

Minhyun doesn’t know what overcomes him, but he stands, leaving his drink and approaches Jaehwan, who’s taking a glass and filling it with the punch.

 _I could offer you a warm embrace_ _  
_ _To make you feel my love_

“I think that drink’s spiked,” Minhyun says as a greeting. Jaehwan pauses and glances to him, then just laughs.

“They did the same last year,” he says. “I won’t be surprised.”

Minhyun realizes that he missed  Jaehwan from last year’s prom. An unknown pang hits him at the thought, but instead of lingering on it, he slides his hands to his pockets.

“What’s that song?” He asks.

Jaehwan hums as he takes a sip of his drink. “Which one?” His cheeks are _cute,_ Minhyun finds himself thinking, and he stops the odd thought before it grows into what he thinks of Jaehwan’s eyes or worse, his lips.

His eyes stray anyway.

“The second one you sang,” Minhyun clarifies.

Jaehwan bites his lip and Minhyun fixates on the sight before looking up. He thinks there’s a blush on Jaehwan’s cheeks. “ _Being as in love with you as I am_ ,” he sings softly, slowly, and Minhyun feels warmth in his own cheeks.

Minhyun nods.

“ _Angels,”_ Jaehwan says. “By a band called The xx.”

Minhyun nods again. _Angels._ Fitting, really, of a voice like Jaehwan’s. He looks to the stage as Daehwi sings the chorus. They stand in front of each other, their gaze on the stage, and there it is still, the pull. Like Jaehwan is a sun and he’s a planet, meant to orbit his whole life around him.

 _I've known it from the moment that we met_ _  
_ _No doubt in my mind where you belong_

And that somehow, that life starts now, in this very moment.

“Do you want to dance?” Minhyun asks.

Jaehwan looks up at him curiously, before smiling and lowering his glass on the table.

“Why not?”

  


_and with words unspoken, a silent devotion_   
_I know you know what I mean_   
_and the end is unknown, but I think I'm ready_   
_as long as you're with me_ _  
_being as in love with you as I am

angels, the xx

**Author's Note:**

> Belated happy Valentine's day, I'm sorry this is late~


End file.
